For three years we have lived directly above a massive unfinished retail space, that space is now in the process of being built out. Here are at least five reasons not to buy above unfinished retail: Eye sore: Unfinished retail is usually plastered with ads letting prospective retailers know that it is available. These ads… Read More

Tim from Seattle Bubble sent me a link to this great photo today: I’m still puzzling over how someone can get instant equity :). But hey, if you can convince your mortgage company to play along more power to you.

A huge, 1,600 square foot loft in Pioneer Square hit the market late last week. It’s unit 2C at 210 3rd Ave S in “The Lofts” building. Looks to be a huge wide open space priced at $550,000, last sold for $278,000 in 1997: Current average appraisal: $439,444 You must have JavaScript enabled to submit… Read More

I can’t believe it either, but this weekend a sales center is opening. The sales center is for Enclave on a Lake Union (2802-2812 Fairview Ave E). The Enclave isn’t cheap, prices start at $1.3 million, and you’ll need to put 5% down to secure your unit which will be complete in about a year… Read More

This Sunday, August 29th, there are 40 condos in 18 buildings in Belltown that will be open as part of a condo open house tour. Prices range from the $200’s to $1 million. Here’s the details (click to enlarge):

Here are a few of the 136 open houses in Seattle this weekend: 1028 Lakeview Blvd E #1 Sunday, August 29, 2010 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Now that is a lovely bathroom. That is a bathroom with style, a bathroom with elegance and sophistication. And that bathroom is only $266 per square foot, making… Read More

Just got an email blast from the folks at Escala, the midtown 265 unit tower: We are proud to announce that Escala has had 70 sales since our launch five months ago and are quickly approaching 50 closings. That makes Escala one of the most successful condominium projects in the past year! Comparing this to… Read More

Two re-sales from two newer buildings hit the market this week. Let’s check in and see how what their sellers’ are expecting. The first is unit 205 at Madison Lofts. Sold for $579,950 July 30th 2008 it’s now on the market for $525,000. Actually, it’s not really a new listing, it’s been on and off… Read More

MLS lock boxes for Trace Lofts used to live on the floor outside our door shackled with bike locks to a pipe. I’m glad to see that our building recently installed a railing to get them off the ground and have not look unsightly. It’s a small thing, but a nice touch. Note to developers:… Read More

The Seattle Times recently did a feature on a tiny Seattle condo, Tiny apartment shows the value of a good fit: Homeowners are building smaller in general. It’s economical and ecological. But few do it in 11-feet-3-inches wide, by 16-feet-2-inches deep, by 10-feet-4-inches tall (Sauer is very accurate) with two beds, a full kitchen with… Read More

In addition to Gallery, on Friday Trace North announced another round of price cuts (our coverage from the last round): For your reference here are the sales from the last three months at Trace North according to Redfin: #501, a 2 bed, 2 bath, 996 square foot unit sold $429,000 on August 12th. #617, a… Read More

Not getting baked at Hempfest? Or perhaps looking for some hapless real estate agents to harass after you’ve gotten baked at Hempfest? Here are a few of the 85 open houses in Seattle this weekend for your visiting pleasure: 606 E Thomas St Unit H Sunday, August 22, 2010 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Thinking… Read More

With summer winding down, sales down and an auction at Olive 8 coming up we’re going to start to see more price reductions. The first batch come from Gallery in Belltown who still has units to move even though they auctioned a bunch off. Unit 324 started at $360,000, most recently was at $292,000 and… Read More

As rumored earlier this month, it’s now official! Olive 8 developer, RC Hedreen, has retained Kennedy Wilson to auction off 34 units on Sunday September 19th. Kennedy Wilson was also the auctioneer for the 5th and Madison auction. Get the full details at Olive8CondoAuction.com or go here if you don’t want to give them a… Read More

Another update on the Diamond Drama! Joel Diamond, CEO of Diamond Parking, not only bought the six-million dollar penthouse at Escala. He’s also attempting to sell a four-bedroom house with weirdly-fluorescent-green pool for 7.88 million dollars. That house is unfortunately not having an open house this weekend, but 98 other fine abodes in Seattle are:… Read More

That crazy mirrored Seattle condo that we first blogged about on August 2nd, was featured in a NYT article earlier this week, What You Get for … $500,000. Notice all the people in the upper right of the photo. It must have been really hard to photograph this place! For a few choice comments on… Read More

This afternoon Redfin released new data on the Seattle Area market showing that for the city of Seattle condo prices increased 1.8% in July to $290,000, and were flat year-over-year. Sales volume decreased 29.4% to 161 sales from June to July, and decreased 23.7% year-over-year (there were 211 condos sold June 2009). Inventory Down 4.5%… Read More

UPDATE: We wondered in last week’s post who bought the six-million-dollar penthouse at Escala, and intrepid Urbnlivn commenter Snoopy came through for us with this gem of wisom: “Escala penthouse was bought by Joel Diamond, CEO of Diamond Parking. Don’t park in his space or he’ll have your car impounded!” Thanks, Snoopy! We now return… Read More

Mark Schuster, the developer behind Mosler Lofts, has written a book, Lofty Pursuits about his career and building Mosler Lofts, a Belltown condo. Lofty Pursuits is a journey of success built the old-fashioned way: through perseverance and hard work. Over the course of twenty-five years, Seattle real estate developer Mark Schuster went from scrubbing toilets… Read More